Biden Tells Gun Control Conference: 'We Must Speak For Those 20 Beautiful Children'

February 21, 2013|By JENNY WILSON, jenwilson@courant.com

DANBURY — Amid concerns about getting a vote on tighter gun control legislation only months after the worst elementary school massacre in history, Vice President Joe Biden joined many of Connecticut's most powerful leaders in a daylong forum to press for change.

"There's a moral price to be paid for inaction. If you're concerned about your political survival you should be concerned about the survival of our children," Biden warned. "I believe the price will be paid politically by those who refuse to act, who refuse to step forward."

The vice president, who as a senator authored the 1994 assault weapons ban, understands well the hot-button nature of this issue and the opposition to greater gun control from lobbyists and some Republican leaders. On Thursday, he delivered a message to politicians, the public, and his critics: This time is different.

"For the president and me, it's a simple proposition, tragically highlighted by what happened in Newtown," Biden told a crowd of a few hundred at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury Thursday. "We have to speak for those 20 beautiful children who died 69 days ago 12 miles from here."

Biden was the keynote speaker at the conference on gun violence, hosted by Connecticut's U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty, all Democrats. Many Sandy Hook residents attended the invitation-only event, reminding politicians of the tragedy that spurred the political movement.

"You should all know the American people are with us," said Biden, issuing an urgent and passionate call to action that was echoed by other speakers including the mayors of Hartford and Bridgeport, the first selectman of Newtown, first-responders to the Sandy Hook school and the parents of some of the 20 first-grader and relatives of the six women who were gunned down at the school Dec. 14.

Biden outlined White House proposals, including a law requiring criminal background checks on all gun sales, renewing and strengthening the assault weapons ban, limiting high capacity magazines, more support for law enforcement, addressing illegal gun trafficking, improving gun violence research, increasing school safety and expanding access to mental health.

"We have changed, and I believe that it is now time for our laws to do the same," said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who released his own set of state gun control proposals Thursday morning.

"We need a vote," Malloy said. "We have to vote on a bill that will make our state and our country safer."

Blumenthal, Murphy and Esty promised to fight for the gun control measures in Congress, which face their toughest battles in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

"Preventing gun violence was thought to be untouchable until two months ago. That unspeakable horror has given us unstoppable momentum and we must seize this moment," Blumenthal said.

"No one state can do it alone," said Blumenthal. "Connecticut cannot do it alone — we need federal action. And it has to be action, not just words."

Murphy agreed, saying: "The policy changes that we talk about here today are incredibly important. The most important of those changes are those at the national level."

Newtown First Selectman E. Patricia Llodra said the people of Newtown are not interested in excuses or delays.

"The cries of never again were soon heard loud and clear," Llodra said, describing the way her community mobilized to demand change after the tragedy. "Never again will we accept the ideological posturing that the changes needed are too complex and too difficult to achieve. Never again will we look the other way. It is time to act."

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, raised on the South Side of Chicago, said he had witnessed the problem of gun violence firsthand and felt strongly about addressing it. "Sometimes you pick the time, sometimes the time picks us," he said.

The speeches came after two panel discussions: one on guns and another on mental health and school safety initatives. Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra; Lynn and Chris McDonnell, parents of Newtown victim Grace McDonnell, a first-grader; and Dale Hourigan, a state police captain and Newtown first-responder were among the panelists. Educators, mental health experts, community leaders, and a sportsman also participated.

The mental health panel discussed the wide range of difficult issues embedded in that debate, ranging from violent media to access to treatment. At one point, Murphy, who was moderating, asked panelists to comment on using mental health records to disqualify someone from owning a firearm.

"We're either going to draw the line too broadly and include too many people, or we're going to draw the line too narrowly," she said. "The ones in treatment are less likely to be violent."

While the second panel discussed ways to intervene — both in the school and through the mental health system — to prevent a tragedy like Newtown from occurring again, the first included participants directly affected, including Lynn McDonnell. "After that day I made a promise to her that I would be the voice. We promised Grace that we would be fearless in our efforts," she said.

Biden, who closed his remarks with a promise to Grace and other students, also praised the families of the victims during his speech. "You have a hell of a lot more courage than I do," he said.

In closing, he said: "There will be lots of voices in this debate, but let me be certain — the president is absolutely determined that the loudest voices will be for the people who lost their voice."